Fumes In Well Kill Man, 2 Who Tried To Save Him

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE NORTHEAST

May 3, 1990

MCCONNELLSBURG, PA. — A volunteer firefighter trying to pump out a contaminated well was asphyxiated by fumes and two others died trying to rescue him, state police said. James F. Chestnut Jr., 20, and Richard L. Hershey, 40, both of Hustontown, were overcome while trying to save Thomas L. Lane, 39, of McConnellsburg, state police said. They were members of the Hustontown Volunteer Fire Company. Lane was on a ladder in the 38-foot-deep Hustontown well, which was thought to be contaminated by a dead animal, when he was overcome by fumes, officials said.